AUTHOR'S NOTE: thank you Anonymous Guest for the review :)
Chapter 89: The Long-Awaited Return.
"The nose is the only trustworthy sense that an animal possesses. All other senses can be tricked, but not the nose."
-Maidenhair, The Tragedy
It took a while for training to resume. After Nelthilta had been taken to her burrow and made comfortable, Bigwig tried to gather everyone else again, but it seemed like there was always someone missing: Dandelion listening to Hawkbit's complaints about his ears, Nyreem napping, Bluebell trying to kiss Blackberry, and Hyzenthlay turning the scrape into a complete burrow. Eventually, he managed to gather most of them once again, but several of them complained that they were hungry, and therefore took a break to silflay.
Bigwig nibbled the grass some distance from the others, annoyed at all these delays. However, as he saw Hyzenthlay playfully tackle Thethuthinnang over a dandelion, he started to think. The training session earlier had gone exceptionally well, apart from a few isolated incidents. The rabbits he trained should have stayed focused when Hawkbit had arrived, but Bigwig had to admit that he probably would have made the same mistake. Dandelion crashing into Fiver and Vilthuril was a really stupid incident, simply showing how the storytelling buck didn't take the owsla seriously enough. The incident with Nelthilta could have easily been avoided if Blackberry had taken a look at her before training began, but it was too late for regrets. Besides, she later examined all the others, and confirmed they were all in good health and fit for the owsla, so similar incidents were unlikely to happen again.
Nevertheless, apart from these incidents, everything had gone surprisingly well so far. At first, he had expected that only one or two rabbits would perform well enough to earn a spot in the owsla, but he was proven wrong. Flyairth had done really well, although he still had a bad feeling about her. There was something kept attracting his attention towards Spartina. Maybe it was that feather in her ear, that had somehow managed to stay in place throughout the entire training session. He would have to ask her about that. Blackberry seemed to have some silly ideas in his mind, but that did not affect his ability to stay focused on the task at hand. Hyzenthlay's performance had also surpassed that of most of the others, doing better even than Hawkbit and Dandelion had ever done. These two clearly lacked interest and motivation, preventing them from reaching their full potential.
The war with Efrafa had ended recently, but Bigwig's owsla had not played a significant role in any of the events. If he had had a large, talented owsla at the time, things might have unfolded very differently. Now that the war was over, having a good owsla was not really a priority anymore, but that didn't mean it wouldn't be useful. This would make it possible to raid Nuthanger Farm more often, and bring back more flayrah each time, than possible with the current owsla. He had no reason not to let the newcomers join.
However, Bigwig realized he was thinking too fast. The new bucks and does had proven their worth in the obstacle course, but while this was an important part of owsla training, there was much more to it than that. They had yet to participate in perhaps the most challenging part: patrolling. Going far from the warren, with elil potentially anywhere, far from help if things went wrong, would be the ultimate test. If they failed, he would hopefully be able to get them out of trouble, and that would be the end of it. If they succeeded, however, he would finally have a decent owsla. No matter which way it turned out, he had nothing to lose.
He stood up on his hind legs to see how the others were doing. Most of the rabbits were still at silflay, except Nyreem, who appeared to be trying to climb the beech tree, but was unable to make it very far. Hyzenthlay was taking a nap, the wind blowing through her fur. Vilthuril was nibbling a cowslip, when suddenly she noticed another rabbit next to her.
-"Vilthuril, earlier I wanted to talk with you, but we were interrupted. Can I talk about it now?"
-"Of course Fiver. What is it?"
-"Well, you see, uh, what I wanted to say is, I wanted to ask you if you..."
-"OY! EVERYONE LISTEN TO ME!" came the loud voice of Bigwig.
-"Oh..." Hawkbit moaned. "He sounds even louder with that thing on my head..."
-"What were you going to say, Fiver?" Vilthuril asked.
-"Will you..."
-"I've seen the way all of you did in the obstacle course earlier today," Bigwig said loudly as he hopped throughout the group. "I think you're ready for the next part: patrolling. We start NOW."
-"I'm sorry about all these interruptions," Vilthuril said. "What do you want to ask me?"
-"...I'll ask you after you come back from your patrol," Fiver said as he hopped away, doing his best to hide his feelings of sadness.
-"Everyone follow me!" Bigwig ordered.
The large crowd of rabbits began the descent to the bottom of the Down. Halfway down, however, Flyairth spoke up.
-"What exactly is the goal of this patrol?"
-"Goal? What do you mean?" Bigwig asked.
-"What you want us to accomplish."
-"The same you would do on any patrol: you check out the area, look for unusual things, in case of danger decide what should be done about it. Just normal patrol things, really."
-"Where are we going?" Thethuthinnang asked.
-"Anywhere you want, as long as you can make it back to Watership Down afterwards. Do you think..." He was interrupted as Hyzenthlay stamped. "What now?"
-"Be quiet," she urged. "I smell something."
-"Rabbits," Strawberry said.
-"And many of them," Blackberry added.
-"Do you know of other warrens nearby?" Hyzenthlay asked.
-"The only one is Redstone Warren," Dandelion explained, "and they don't take out wide patrols." He sniffed. "It smells like...no..." he sniffed again. "It can't be! It smells...just...like..." his strength deserted him, and he fainted.
Hyzenthlay, Flyairth and Blackberry turned and looked at Dandelion's limp body.
-"We've got to do something...he might need help," Blackberry said.
-"And if those strangers are hostile, he won't last long," Flyairth added.
-"I'll take him back to the warren," Spartina volunteered.
Not unlike with Nelthilta earlier, Spartina lowered her head and pushed it under Dandelion in order to pick him up. However, he was too large for her to carry alone, and slid off her back; it was at that moment that he regained consciousness.
-"Ouch!"
-"Do you think you can walk?" Spartina asked.
-"Wait, what's going on..." he sniffed the air. "We must fight the enemy!"
-"You're in no state to fight anyone right now. We're going back to Watership Down. Follow me."
Dandelion stared at Spartina, unsure what to do, before turning to Bigwig.
-"Well, what are you waiting for?" the captain of owsla shouted. "Do as she says!"
-"But the Ef..."
-"We'll take care of them ourselves. You're excused from this patrol. Go back to the warren."
-"Which way is the warren?"
-"This way," Spartina said, as she hopped away from the group towards the warren, with Dandelion following her.
The other rabbits turned towards the source of the smell. Hyzenthlay, Bluebell and Bigwig made a few cautious steps forward. Immediately afterwards, an orange doe, with several cuts across her face and legs, crawled out of the bushes.
-"Help..." she said weakly.
At that moment, another rabbit, a buck, jumped out of the same bush. While he did not have any visible wounds, he nevertheless looked exhausted. Bigwig gasped.
-"Frith and Inlé, captain Rake!"
-"Bigwig?"
-"Bigwig?" the doe repeated. "Are you not with the outsiders?"
-"I'm confused..." Vilthuril said. "You two know each other?"
-"You could say that," Bigwig said sternly, before turning back to the two Efrafans. "What is your business here?"
-"We've had a hard time," said a third, mostly grey, rabbit. "Our warren was destroyed, and while searching for a new home we had a run-in with a pack of weasels."
-"Brambles, that sounds really terrible," Strawberry said with a sigh. "Follow us, we'll take you to safety. Are there any others with you?"
-"In addition to Leo and Heather here," Rake said, "maybe four others behind us. All of them are hurt though."
As he spoke, a few other rabbits crawled out of the bushes. Bigwig could clearly recognize captain Moss, despite the scars.
-"All of you, come with us to our warren," Hyzenthlay said.
-"Wait, what do you..." Bigwig started to say.
-"Your warren?" Heather said. "That wouldn't be...Hazel-rah's warren?"
-"Yes! How did you know?" Hyzenthlay said.
-"Isn't it ironic, how the General has been searching for this warren for so long, and now that he's gone, we finally find it?" Moss said.
Hyzenthlay was about to reply, when she heard the moaning of another of the rabbits, who appeared to be missing nearly all of his whiskers.
-"We can continue talking later. For now, our priority should be getting everyone to safety. Follow me."
-"If any of you feel like they can't make it the whole way, climb on my back and I'll carry you," Flyairth added.
-"Thank you," Rake said. The small group of rabbits slowly started to hop towards the warren, until suddenly...
-"Now hold it right there!" Bigwig said, as he approached Hyzenthlay. "What do you think you're doing, inviting everyone to the warren just like that? Don't you know who they are? Of course you don't, you've only been here for a few days. They're Efrafans. We used to be at war with them. What makes you think they won't try to destroy us, once they reach the warren?"
-"Bigwig, we've already been through this," Moss said. "Woundwort is dead, and Campion is still missing. We have no reason to destroy you. And even if we wanted to, we wouldn't stand a chance in our current state. But if you don't want us, we'll find another warren."
Bigwig sighed. As much as he hated to admit it, Moss made some valid points.
-"You can come. But I'll keep a close eye on you."